White House Chief of Staff

White House Chief of Staff

The White House chief of staff position is the successor to the earlier role of the secretary to the president of the United States. The current official title is Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff. The position is widely recognized as one that is powerful and influential, owing mainly to daily contact with the president. There is no legal requirement that the president even fill the position.

About White House Chief of Staff in brief

Summary White House Chief of StaffThe White House chief of staff position is the successor to the earlier role of the secretary to the president of the United States. The current official title is Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff. The position is widely recognized as one that is powerful and influential, owing mainly to daily contact with the president and control of the White House Office. There is no legal requirement that the president even fill the position. However, since at least 1979, all presidents have found the need for a chief of Staff, who typically oversees the actions of the. White House staff, manages the president’s daily schedule, and decides who is allowed to meet with the. president. In the administration of Donald J. Trump, the current chief of. staff is Mark Meadows, who succeeded acting chief. of staff Mick Mulvaney on March 31, 2020.

The average tenure for a White House chiefs of staff is a little more than 18 months under Harry S. Truman, John R. Steelman, John F. Kennedy and George W. Bush. Many are former politicians, and continue their political careers in their White House stints after their stint in the White. House. The role was formalized as the assistant to. the president in 1946 and acquired its current title in 1961. It is not a legally required role, but with the exception of John F Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, whose equivalent appointments were to the office of White House Appointments Secretary, a role that would later be subsumed into that of Chief of staff. The job of gatekeeper and overseeing the president’s schedule was separately delegated to the appointments secretary, as with aide Edwin ‘Pa’ Watson.